The present invention relates to control systems for motor vehicles and, more particularly to the interaction of acceleration and braking of a vehicle and even more particularly to a modular electronic device for implementing same.
It is well known that the distance required to bring a moving vehicle to a standstill from the instant a driver perceives a potentially hazardous situation to the vehicle coming to rest, is a combination of the reaction distance and the braking distance.
The reaction distance is that distance covered during the delay between which the mind of the driver perceives the situation and decides to act, to the actual activating of the vehicles braking system. The braking distance is that distance actually required to bring the vehicle to a standstill from the speed at which it was travelling under the application of the optimum braking force.
Both the reaction distance and the braking distance are clearly functions of the initial speed of the vehicle, while the braking distance is additionally affected by road and weather conditions as well as the efficiency of the braking system.
Improvements in braking systems have significantly reduced the braking distance in emergency situations, while the reaction distance has tended to remain relatively stable. A disadvantage in conventional vehicle control systems in an emergency situation is that the reaction distance is partly made up of the time taken to physically lift the driver's foot from the accelerator pedal, transfer it to the brake pedal and depress that pedal.
Conventional control systems also are inconvenient in non-emergency braking situations. For example in “stop start” traffic situations, the need to repeatedly transfer the driver's foot from one pedal to the other can become very tiring.
The applicant's earlier filed International Patent Application number PCT/AU01/00582 and prior art U.S. Pat. No. 3,082,851 to Sheriff disclose substantially mechanical arrangements. However such arrangements are prone to failure and are difficult to calibrate. They can also be difficult to retrofit. They can also be difficult to customise “on the fly” to suit the preferences of the individual driver.
It is an object of the present invention to address or ameliorate some of the above disadvantages.
Notes
    1. The term “comprising” (and grammatical variations thereof) is used in this specification in the inclusive sense of “having” or “including”, and not in the exclusive sense of “consisting only of”.    2. The above discussion of the prior art in the Background of the invention, is not an admission that any information discussed therein is citable prior art or part of the common general knowledge of persons skilled in the art in any country.